TO WHAT EXTENT DO

DIFFERENT NOTE
TAKING METHODS
BENEFIT STUDENT
LEARNING?

Carly Spoulos PSIII

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SLIDE 3………………. Why Did I Choose This Topic?

SLIDES 4-5……… Different Note Strategies - For Science
SLIDES 5-7……… Guided Notes
SLIDES 8-10…………. Fill in the Blank Notes
SLIDES 11-13…… Doodle Notes
SLIDES 14-16………. Cornell Notes
SLIDE 17………. Conclusion
SLIDE 18…………….. References
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 WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?
Planton et al. (2013) found that note-taking would be most effective in
the frontal gyrus area, parietal supporting my student’s for
area, and right cerebellum success? This is when I had
are responsible for the idea to turn this
writing, which question into my
contributes to the professional inquiry
process of information project to help
going into long term me plan for
memory. The reason future classes. As
that we write while learning mentioned by
is for knowledge to stay in our Mark A. Freitag,
brains. But what kind of writing is studies have shown
the best for retention? When that note-taking is essential
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creating my classes for PSIII, I was for student success.

wondering what method of
 Engaging in Career-Long Learning
● Actively seeking out feedback to enhance
teaching practice
● seeking, critically reviewing and applying

How educational research to improve practice

does this Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge

● Ensure that all students continuously develop

topic skills in literacy and numeracy

● Foster student understanding of the link

relate to between the activity and the intended

learning outcomes

the TQS? ● Using instructional strategies to engage

students in meaningful learning activities
based on:
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○ a knowledge of how students develop as

learners
 Different Note Strategies - For
Science

1 2 3 4

Guided Fill in the Doodle Cornell

Notes Blank Notes Notes
Notes
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 Benefits:
- Saves time; students can be more
Guided attentive to what the educator is
Notes saying as they don’t have to stress
about what to write down (Feudal,
2021).
- Provides organizational skills (Feudal,
Are pre-planned 2021).
notes that follow - Aids in recall style questions (Study
along a slideshow. done in two English high school
classes) (Jacobs, 2008).
There are designated
spaces to write down Disadvantages:
important terms and - Important to wait for students to
concepts. copy down information before
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explaining as they cannot multitask

(Feudal, 2021).
 Guided Notes Student Feedback:

- Students requested to have guided notes

for the second unit in science
- They appreciated learning organizational
Results: skills and having all of their notes in one
place.
- Students liked having printed pictures in
Science Unit A there to label and build understanding.
Exam Average: 74%
Improvement for next time: I need to go
back through the packages I have created and
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fix any spelling mistakes/errors to go with

slides.
 Guided Notes - Examples
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 Fill in the Benefits:
Blank - Saves a lot of time; students can
Notes be more attentive to what the
educator is saying as they don’t
have to stress about what to
Are pre-planned write down (Feudal, 2021).
notes with
purposeful blanks for Disadvantages:
students to fill in - Students will only look for
while following along words to fill in the blanks
with a slideshow. resulting in students not reading
and interpreting the sentence.
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 Fill in the Blank Notes
Student Feedback:

Results: - Students liked how easy it was to fill in the

blanks at the time, but found it difficult to
recall information.
Unit D - Section 1 - Found quizzes and tests more challenging;
Quiz Average: 59% less information to write and therefore,
less muscle memory = less information
Unit D - Section 2 going to long-term memory.
Quiz Average : 70% -
Improvement for next time: I can’t see myself
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using fill in the blank notes unless it is for an

adapted program.
 Fill in the Blank Notes - Examples
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Doodle
Notes
Are visual notes that combine
graphics and linguistics to build
stronger connections and store
information in long-term
memory.
There are neural fibres called
corpus callosum between the
left and right hemispheres of the
brain. Doodle notes allow
communication between the
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hemispheres which enhances
learning (Pillars, 2016).
Benefits:
- In a study done by Tadayon and Afhami,
there was evidence that doodling
increased student’s academic
performance as it improves memory
retention (Tadayon, Afhami, 2017).
- Less daydreaming in students while
learning information (Sundararaman,
2020).
- Is a good tool for testing yourself before
an assessment by only seeing important
terms.
Disadvantages:
- Students may get distracted by worrying
about how their page looks rather than
retrieving the information necessary to
write down.
- Takes some time to plan out
 Doodle Notes
Student Feedback:

- Students said they did not use the

Results:
doodle notes to study with and often
Unit A - Quiz 1 Average: forgot about it. They said they used
79% their guided notes booklet to study
with.
Unit A Test Average: 74%
Improvement for next time: I designed the
(Note: this method of notes was used in
combination with guided notes)
layout of the doodle notes. Next time, I
would encourage student creativity and
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innovation by designing their own doodle

note page for a topic.
 Doodle Notes - Example
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Cornell
Notes
Is a note system that is purposely
organized for individuals to study
without having to make q-cards.
Individuals take all of their own
notes with this method. Content
goes on the right side, main ideas
and questions on the left, and
then a summary at the bottom.
Cornell notes were created by
students at Cornell University
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and published in 1962 (Saran,
Gober, & McCarty, 2022).
Benefits:
- Students learn how to paraphrase; paraphrasing
aids in storing semantic knowledge (general
knowledge) into long-term memory (Moss &
Schunn, 2015).
- Students have a strong ability to elaborate on
information as students are making connections
from new knowledge with pre-existing
knowledge.
- Improves note-taking skills and increases
processing for students (Jacobs, 2008).
- Valuable for questions with synthesizing or
applying information. (Study done in two
English high school classes) (Jacobs, 2008).
Disadvantages:
- Students may miss important information.
- May take longer for some students to decipher
which information is more important than
others.
 Cornell Notes
Student Feedback:

- Students did not like the Cornell

Results: method as they had to decipher the
important information to write. They
preferred the organization of the
Unit A - Quiz 3 guided notes.
Average: 80%
Improvement for next time: I would encourage
this method more. I think when students first
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hear about having to write their own notes,

they are hesitant. However, I think it would help
with storing information in long-term memory.
 Cornell Notes - Example

Main Content,
ideas and diagrams,
questions notes,
equations

Summary
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 Conclusions
There are lots of factors that can influence the validity and
Ratings: reliability of the test scores and their associated note-taking
1. Guided Notes method such as:
1) Day of the week - if the test was on a Monday
2. Cornell Notes 2) Did the student study on their own?
3) Student’s attendance
3. Doodle Notes Additionally, the most effective note-taking strategy will be
different depending on the dynamics and supports required
4. Fill in the for your students. One year you may have a group of
students who require heavily guided notes with fill in the
Blanks blanks. Other years you may require Cornell Notes for your
students.
For the students in my class while I conducted this project,
guided notes were the most beneficial due to teaching
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organization skills and to ensure students had the required

information.
 References
Freitag, M.A. (2020).Note-Taking Practices of Students in College Mathematics. Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed. 6, 65–89.
https://doi-org.uleth.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s40753-019-00099-0

Feudel, F., Panse, A. (2022). Can Guided Notes Support Students’ Note-taking in Mathematics Lectures?. Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed. 8, 8–35
https://doi-org.uleth.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s40753-021-00146-9

Jacobs, K. (2008). A Comparison of Two Note Taking Methods in a Secondary English Classroom. Paper presented at the 4th Annual GRASP Symposium,
Witchita State University

Moss, J., & Schunn, C. D. (2015). Comprehension through explanation as the interaction of the brain’s coherence and cognitive control networks. Frontiers in
Human Neuroscience, 9, 562. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00562

Pillars, W. (2016). Visual note-taking for educators: A teacher’s guide to student creativity. W.W. Norton & Company.

Planton, S., Jucla, M., Roux, F.-E., & Démonet, J.-F. (2013). The “handwriting brain”: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motor versus orthographic
processes. Cortex, 49(10), 2772–2787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2013.05.011

Saran, M., Krentz Gober, M., & McCarty, E. B. (2022). An introduction to the Cornell Note system. Ear, Nose & Throat Journal, 101(9_suppl), 37S-41S.
https://doi.org/10.1177/01455613221146457
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Sundararaman, D. (2020). Doodle Away: Exploring the Effects of Doodling on Recall Ability of High School Students. May 12; Canadian Center of Science
and Education.

Tadayon, M. & Afhami, R. (2017). Doodling Effects on Junior High School Students’ Learning. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 36(1),
118-125. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12081